Gift Ideas For The Movie Lover In Your Life

By Chris Narloch

If you’re on the hunt for last minute stocking stuffers for your friends or family members, films always make a great gift. Who doesn’t love getting a good movie?

To that end, I have put together a list of five fantastic films now available on DVD that include a likely multiple Oscar winner, a classic movie musical, and a criminally overlooked drama from earlier in the year starring Robert Pattinson.

DunkirkI haven’t seen all of 2017’s titles yet, but of the movies I have seen, my money is on this epic war film from last summer to nab the Best Picture prize at next year’s Oscars.

Working with his own best script to date, Chris Nolan (“The Dark Knight,” “Inception”) displays so much technical mastery in “Dunkirk” that the movie feels like a classic Hollywood war movie from yesteryear but made with cutting edge, state of the art technology. (Approximately 70% of the film was shot with IMAX cameras.)

The story? In May 1940, Germany advanced into France, trapping Allied troops on the beaches of Dunkirk. Under air and ground cover from British and French forces, troops were slowly and methodically evacuated from the beach using every serviceable naval and civilian vessel that could be found.

At the end of this heroic mission, 330,000 French, British, Belgian and Dutch soldiers were safely evacuated. This title is available at www.wbshop.com/warnerarchive.

Good TimeAfter a botched bank robbery lands his younger brother in prison, Constantine "Connie" Nikas (Robert Pattinson) embarks on a twisted odyssey through the city's underworld in an increasingly desperate—and dangerous—attempt to get his brother Nick (Benny Safdie) out of jail.

Over the course of one adrenalized night, Connie finds himself on a mad descent into violence and mayhem as he races against the clock to save his brother and himself, knowing their lives hang in the balance.

I was never a big fan of those “Twilight” movies, but Pattinson is sensational in “Good Time,” giving a totally committed performance as a scuzzy-looking, low-life loser who, at every turn, makes the worst possible decision.

The film didn’t receive the promotional push it needed to score at the box office, and Pattinson’s “Twilight” fans would have been scared of the way he looks in the film anyway, but his performance and the film itself deserve to be seen on DVD. Look for the Safdie brothers, Josh and Benny, who co-directed “Good Time,” to go places.

DreamgirlsWinner of two Academy Awards and three Golden Globes, “Dreamgirls” is the latest classic movie musical to receive a Director’s Extended Edition that features never-before-seen bonus features, including 10 minutes of additional footage cut from the 2006 film.

Jennifer Hudson won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role as Effie in the hit film, which also features Beyonce, Eddie Murphy, Jamie Foxx, Loretta Devine, Anika Noni Rose, and Danny Glover in its starry cast.

A successful screen adaptation of the Tony-winning Broadway hit, “Dreamgirls” chronicles the fictional story of a Supremes-like trio of singers who dream of stardom and learn the high price of success.

Auntie MameThis classic 1958 comedy starring Rosalind Russell received the re-mastered Blu-ray treatment in 2017, and the DVD is a must for fans of old-school Hollywood hits.

Russell delivers a career-high performance as the quintessential Bohemian bon vivant Mame, who saves her beloved nephew Patrick (Jan Handzlik as young Patrick, Roger Smith as young adult Patrick) from a life un-lived.

When young, impressionable Patrick Dennis' millionaire father dies, the boy is left in the care of his flamboyant, extravagant, devil-may-care and never-dull Auntie Mame.

Despite the best efforts of others to rear young Patrick as a boring, stuffy aristocrat, the lad gets swept up into Mame Dennis' Jazz Age New York world of parties, flappers and the most eccentric, entertaining, intelligent set of friends anywhere.

Just in time for the holidays, “Auntie Mame” enchants like never before thanks to this effervescent, iridescent high definition Blu-ray disc. This title is available at www.wbshop.com/warnerarchive.

Lang Lang: Live From Lincoln CenterSomebody who knows that I love music and New York City gave me this great DVD, which was the best gift I received last Christmas.

A Live From Lincoln Center presentation, “New York Rhapsody” is acclaimed pianist Lang Lang’s tribute to New York, the city he considers his adoptive home, set to the music that helped make the city famous, including “New York, New York,” “New York State of Mind,” “Rhapsody In Blue,” “New York Minute” and “Empire State of Mind.”